


Stronger Together

by AgentJoanneMills



Category: DC Cinematic Universe, DCU, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Family, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Romance, SuperCorp, in which Clark Kent notices things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 12:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10021613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentJoanneMills/pseuds/AgentJoanneMills
Summary: A Super and a Luthor: A Study by Clark Kent(Alternatively:Five Things: The Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor Edition, from the records of one Kal-El.It took one look for Clark to know that Lena Luthor has fallen in love, wholly and irrevocably, with Kara Zor-El.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> *Recognizable elements belong to their respective owners.  
> **Merely a work of fanfiction. No copyright infringement intended.  
> ***Title from the dictum of the House of El.

 

Clark Kent, at first, thought he knew all about Lena Luthor—or, at the very least, her beliefs and stance on issues that he thinks matter.

He grew up with her brother, knew him from boyhood. He saw Lex’s fall from grace—had a front-row seat of it, even.

Because he tried _so_ hard to kill Clark.

Well, not Clark, per se.

_Superman._

. . . which, yeah, okay, that’s Clark.

That did put a damper on things. After so many attempts on his life, after so many times Clark thought he’s going to die at the hands of the man he once saw as his best friend, he kind of got averse to all things _Luthor_.

And so, since then, Clark’s kind of always put all Luthors together under one class: _dangerous_.

It’s a decidedly prejudiced way of thinking, he admits, but it comes from the culmination of all the things he’s had to endure, all the losses he had to see, all the deaths he had to witness because of Lex Luthor’s actions.

So, yes, before meeting the youngest Luthor, he already had his mind made about her. He’d already got an image painting her as villain, putting her in the harsh light that was the result of her brother’s madness.

 

He was, however, proven wrong.

Repeatedly.

 

****

 

**Five times Lena Luthor proved Clark Kent wrong**

 

_i._

The first time was when he thought her to be the perpetrator in the Venture explosion, only to later learn that she was, after all, the intended target.

 

_ii._

The second time was when he thought she was easily scared. Not that threats on one’s life count as _easy scares_ , but, well. He thought she would at least wait until the issue was resolved, wait until her life wasn’t on imminent danger. He thought she would retreat first before again going into the breach.

But then . . .

But then she went on to have her press conference, despite everything going on around her. Despite the risks. Despite her life being practically right in the crossfire.

She strode up the podium with her head held high, voice strong, gaze steady.

 

(And this is the first time, in quite a while, that Clark felt something akin to respect, when thinking of a _Luthor_.)

 

_iii._

The third time came right after. She came back instead of running away, and she saved Alex’s life in the process.

 

(She truly earned that article he wrote.)

 

_iv._

The fourth time came when she, unintentionally, became the push Kara needed to decide to be a reporter.

She looked at his cousin then with something Clark himself sometimes feel when looking at Kara: _awe_.

 

(And he’s thankful for the motivation she unwittingly provided Kara, for he had never seen Kara that excited before, not even during their first team-up.)

 

(And really, that had been his first clue that something’s happening.)

 

_v._

The fifth time came when she saved all alien life in National City, and perhaps even the world (because Clark knew that there was a possibility for the virus to have been diffused in a greater scale, once it reached the atmosphere).

(Only later did he learn this all from Kara, who babbled about Lena and about how great she was and how at first Kara had been hurt because Lena pushed her away, but how that was apparently a part of the ruse she played to beat Lillian Luthor at her own game.)

(The way Kara’s eyes shimmered with tears just _remembering_ the argument she had with Lena gave Clark pause.

 

And that had been his second clue.)

 

****

 

**Five things Clark notices about Kara when she’s talking about one Lena Luthor**

 

_i._

Her eyes get brighter. There’s something that changes in Kara’s gaze when talking about Lena. It makes her livelier, and her eyes become bluer than ever, almost like the sea sparkling in the sun, like the sky on a clear summer day.

 

_ii._

Her smile grows wider. Kara has always been a cheerful girl, but her usual smile is nothing compared to the smile she has when Lena’s name is so much as mentioned.

It’s like looking at the sun, Clark sometimes thinks: it’s pretty, but you don’t look directly at it because it _blazes_.

 

And it does leave you dazed.

 

_iii._

The cadence of her voice changes. Clark hasn’t ever been the poetic type, but he swears Kara’s voice becomes infused with warmth whenever speaking Lena’s name. She’s reverent but at the same time eager, timid but at the same time excited.

(Sometimes, the name even gets this certain inflection that Clark has often associated with believers worshiping their gods.

 

He never mentions this.)

 

_iv._

She blushes. Like a summer rose. It reminds Clark of the time when Lois didn’t know he’s Superman yet, and she’d always get flushed whenever seeing him for an interview or when she’s being saved by him.  

 

_v._

Her heart beats faster, faster, and faster.

Clark doesn’t think Kara even realises he can indeed hear the beating of her heart, how it spikes when she’s telling him about Lena’s smile or describing the exact shade of her eyes that one time they got breakfast before 8:00 a.m. or explaining how she came up with simple solutions to complex problems or gushing about how kind she is and how clever and how nice.

 

(Clark would just grin, telling her to go on, and Kara would bounce on the balls of her feet like a giddy child and the words would continue to pour.)

 

(And he wonders when she’ll even realise that she’s in love with the girl.)

 

****

 

**Five things Clark Kent learns about one Lena Luthor**

 

_i._

She likes doughnuts.

Kara first brought her doughnuts after she testified against her mother. Then there was the whole fiasco where Lena got arrested for allegedly abetting in Lillian’s escape. The memory got ruined because of that, at least in Kara’s mind, so she made it a point to erase the taint and make new memories relating to the pastry.

 

(It’s honestly not a bad plan, in Clark’s opinion.

 

One can never go wrong with food.)

 

_ii._

She listens to classic rock.

Kara woke him up in the middle of the night, having a mild panic attack. She’s rambling a mile a minute while pacing on his living room, wearing a hole on his carpet.

(Meh. Clark hated that carpet but Lois insisted on keeping it, so. Now he had a reason to change it.)

He was still kind of asleep, and all he really heard were the words _recording_ , _rock_ , and _Alex_.

“—but I don’t know whether to choose AC/DC or The Eagles or even maybe Nirvana, because I never really listened to them and I’m regretting that now because I don’t have any idea what to sing for Lena and I just wanna make her birthday special, you know, because she’s special, but that’s not my point right now—”

“Kara, Kara—” he rubbed his eyes, yawned, “—please slow down. I speak English, not gibberish.”  

“Oh.” Kara stopped. Breathed. Then she started her quick stream of words again and Clark sighed.

He’s gonna have to brew coffee now. At three in the morning. Oh well.

 

(It turned out that Kara wanted to record a song for Lena’s birthday. She learned that Lena liked classic rock songs, and Kara would normally go to Alex for advice regarding such song choices, but she’s with Maggie that time and would not be available. Winn listened to show tunes, James was into classical, so they’d be of no help either. So that really left Clark.

“Wow, I’m glad to be your last resort, Kara, thanks,” he quipped, teasing.

Kara glared at him, but her lips were set in that infamous pout. “Shut up. I didn’t want to disturb your beauty sleep.”

“Hmm.”

“Clark, please.”

“Okay, okay.”)

 

_iii._

She likes plumerias.

(There’s always a vase of the stuff in her office, Kara told him. “They, uhm, they remind me of my mother,” she said.)

( _They remind me of home,_ she didn’t say.)

 

( _Lena reminds me of home_ , was what Clark knew she meant.)

 

 

_iv._

She spoils his cousin rotten.

And it’s not even a conscious effort, Clark surmises. He thinks it’s just that Lena doesn’t know the difference between how to act around a friend and how to act around a friend you want to date. So she makes these grand gestures that would totally read as romantic to essentially every other person, but unfortunately for her, Kara is an oblivious ball of energy and all of those would just, like, fly over her head.

(Honestly? A room full of flowers? _Come on._ )

 

(He has half a mind to contact Alex just to stage an intervention.)

(It’s sort of funny, though, so he elects to just wait and see what would happen and how long this dance is going to last before they pull themselves together and _finally_ woman up.)

 

(“If your cousin is anything like you, which I know she is, it’s gonna take a long fucking while,” Lois told him, laughing.

He found that he couldn’t even really refute that.)

 

_v._

She’s fallen in love, wholly and irrevocably, with Kara.

 

(It took one look for Clark to know that. One look at Lena’s smiling face, her gaze fixed on his cousin, who was engaged in an intense game of Jenga with Winn and Maggie.

 

One look, and Clark knew that Lena Luthor would never, ever hurt Kara Zor-El.)

 

****

 

**Five things Kal-El regrets, regarding one Kara Zor-El**

 

_i._

That he abandoned her.

 

No, wait. He doesn’t regret leaving her with the Danverses, because at the time, that was the best course of action. He was a young man, barely even making a mark on the world. He was not ready for the responsibility of taking care of someone who was both younger and older than him, who had the memory of an entire civilization on her shoulders.

What he does regret is not visiting as often as he could, not making the time to get to know her—the last true Kryptonian.

 

(And Kara is the last _true_ Kryptonian. He has no delusions about that. He admits that he won’t ever completely understand the pain, the whole depth of loss that Kara has had to suffer, the whole weight of the burden she has had to bear.

Kara Zor-El _is_ the last of her kind.)

 

_ii._

That he was never around whenever she’s having trouble connecting with other people.

He knows how it is to keep a part of himself hidden. How difficult it is make friends. How terrifying it is to touch another, with the possibility of literally breaking them apart lying on his fingertips.

 

(So now he’s taking steps to make amends. Now he’s trying to be there for her.

Regular check-ins. Phone calls. Chats.

 

Anything to let her know that _he’s here_.)

 

(And if that means midnight calls just to babble about how Lena’s being unfairly pretty during their weekly dinners, then, so be it.)

 

_iii._

That he didn’t give her a choice, telling Jimmy her identity before she even made the decision to be a hero.

 

(Jimmy’s his friend, but Kara is family.

And he came to learn that some secrets are not his to tell.)

 

_iv._

That he made her feel alone.

He never really exerted effort to learn of their culture from her perspective. One that has lived through it.

 

(It guts him, every time she mentions Krypton with hesitation in her voice, as if afraid that he would recoil.

 

Guilt gnaws, and he struggles to keep his composure, struggles to appear strong before the woman whom he knows to be stronger that he will ever be.)

 

_v._

That he wasn’t available the morning after she finally told Lena how she felt.

 

(To be fair, though, that was totally Lois’s fault. It’s not like Clark wound his fingers in his own necktie to tug himself into a see-you-later kiss that was supposed to be like, three seconds long. Five tops.)

 

(Anyway, when Clark arrived in her apartment later that day, Kara mostly just choked on air just remembering what exactly happened the night before, so he thinks it’s fine.)

 

 

(Also, he’s 50 dollars richer.

He gotta remember to collect on the bet before going back to Metropolis.

 

Alex is gonna be so pissed.)

 

**Author's Note:**

> fa-la-la-la-la ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Come yell at me or something at [A Blank Canvas](http://agentjoannemills.tumblr.com/ask) or [@joampolin](https://twitter.com/joampolin). Gush/Rant about this goddamn ship.  
> Feedback is much appreciated; feelings fuel everything. :))  
> 


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